UKH

I’m considering a new full sus mountain bike, I feel the need for something with a little more travel to make allowances for my lack of skill and my present bike feels a little undergunned Cube Stereo 140 the kind of stuff I’m doing is the Rangers path on Snowdon with fairly competent folk, still want it to be useful on trail centre stuff but also be good enough for an alpine uplift

I previously dismissed 29s a for tall folk however I’ve just tried a Kona 153 DL 29

Wow!! What a world of difference 160 travel, bigger wheels, trail plus tyres and progressive geometry , goes uphill easier, goes down hill faster, and it’s poppy and manoeuvrable 

desperately trying to find some money and arranging cycle to work

before I get too carried away does any one have long term experience of this style bike, the Kona is out of my price range but a Trek slash 8 could possibly be funded.

I just recently bought a Trek Remedy 8 which had a 15% discount from Tiso after demo'ing one at Glentress, needless to say its an amazing bike that can handle anything you send it down! It also comes with everything you need, so no need to buy anything aftermarket to make up for crap stock components. Not sure if 160 travel and big wheels is a bit too overkill, but if you can demo a Remedy you might enjoy the more nimble 27.5" wheels! 

That was my natural inclination 160mm front 150mn rear on 27.5, I was genuinely surprised at how nimble the 29 was, I’m not kidding myself I’m flicking the bike around like hoodlum or laying it flat on the corners but I do like it when it falls into place and your getting the bike to move around with you on  some tight and fast single track.

i was surprised that bigger didn’t feel like a truck, I’m going to demo another bike I think but it’s a bit worrying, Santa Cruz Bronson 😂😂

Considering that my last mountain bike was a Ti hardtail, which had flat bars, 26" wheels and later acquired rigid forks I must hire or borrow one of these beasts which look like a motorbike with the engine removed. I was always quite necky on steep downhills so I reckon one of these ought to make me able to go down cliffs.

To be honest i don't think 10 mill makes that much difference, guess it depends how you ride, i have a 140 stereo 27.5 it has a 150 pike up front, which is a great fork, this is more the deciding factor for me.

I ride everything, standard fare would be off piste in the Tweedvalley, tight and twisty, found it rode better than my 160 Enduro, the rest of the time it's doing big descents in the Lakes and Scotland, Rangers is nothing out of the ordinary, rode it first time on a hardtail, a bigger bike will certainly smooth it out and possibly help clean the crux techy sections, but for me a trail bike is a good compromise steep tech verse flowy singletrack, with more suspension you can plough through although i have not backed off anything due to lack of travel, suspension is so good these days, some guys will be hitting the most technical sections with 130mm of travel these days, so i guess it depends on how you ride and what is a compromise. 

PS. Just noted you mentioned a lack of skill! in that case bigger wheels and more suspension may help, many enduro bikes are 170mm these days! go for it.

I was surprised at how like a trail bike it felt, I would normally be quite conservative and have thought about just adding 10mm to the front of the cube with a pike fork or getting something similar to the remedy, I think bikes have gone through one of those phases where all the innovation settles down into something useable for joe blogs 

there is nothing stopping me carrying on with my bike as it is, it’s good on 90% of what I do I probably haven’t got that many years where I can be throwing myself down mountains so want to make the most of it while I can 😀

Another vote from me for the Remedy. I have a 2019 Remedy 7 but with Lyriks and Magura MT5 brakes and it is an incredible machine. I use it for all mountain trail riding and bike parks and I think you can't beat it. I tried the Slash and felt it wasn't for me, but I was coming from a 2010 Santa Cruz Blurt LT with 26" wheels. I also tried an Orange Stage 6 (29er) it was super fast but felt like I was a kid riding my dad's bike.

I ride a long-low 170/170 FS bike (650B) as my main bike and a long-low 170/650B Hardtail for when I want to suffer (both XL at 490mm reach, up-sized from what I should be riding). They are both great fun.

The big travel 29ers are the way forward though, I'll probably finally succumb next time to the big wheels.

On my (current) long-low 29er list are the offerings from SantaC (Megatower), Cotic RocketMax, Commencal, YT Capra, perhaps Canyon, RAAW and Pole.

Just go for it.

The calibre sentry...

I've gone from 27.5 full sus trail bike. 130 both ends to 29 160/150 on it and love it. Not quite as pop able as my 27.5 but soooo much quicker down and doesn't feel any slower up.